Shifting Stances
by Disenchantress Delirium
Summary: AU, insert-OCs fic, eventual Zuko/OC and Jet/OC. As Aang is searching the ocean for elephant koi, he, Katara, and Sokka happen across a seaside village where they meet a pair of girls with unusual Bending abilities. When Fire Nation troops force them to flee with the Avatar, how will their presence affect Aang's quest?
1. Chapter 1

The sea was calm outside the tiny port of Mizuna, the sky overcast, and the sun shone in bright shafts down through the clouds like the sun itself was smiling on them. Days like this were Kaida's favorites: the best weather for fishing with her cousin Ren.

"So I heard Hachiro asked you to help him with his homework tomorrow," Kaida said with a sideways glance and a smirk.

Ren rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile a bit. "We're just friends… but yes, he did."

Kaida grinned crookedly. "Sure, 'just friends.' And I'm the Ava—holy Kyoshi, did you see that!?" Standing up and abandoning her fishing rod, she pointed to the sky. "I swear I just saw something in the clouds!"

Ren shielded her eyes from the sun and looked up. "What did it look like? I don't see anything."

"I don't know," Kaida said slowly. "Big and fluffy and—right there!"

There was a tremendous splash as something huge and hairy landed in the bay. Something white and brown and… with three people riding it?

"What in the world is that thing!?" Kaida gasped, watching in awe as it beached itself on the sand and three figures got off it as if to set up camp.

"That's… but it can't be!" Ren stared wide-eyed. "It looks like a flying bison. But it can't be, they're extinct!"

Kaida went even paler than usual as she got a closer look at the three kids. One of them had a shaved head and… blue arrow tattoos. Swallowing hard, she whispered, "Extinct? Like Airbenders?"

"Yeah, like Airbenders—why?" Ren followed her cousin's gaze until she too saw the tattoos on the bald boy. "Um, Kaida? Those tattoos—they look _really_ familiar."

"Master Tamlen's wall scroll," Kaida whispered. "The one we had to hide for him when the Fire Army searched the town. A picture of the old leaders of the nations, before the war. The Air Nomad priest… he had tattoos like that."

"But—that would make that boy…" Ren's brow furrowed and her eyes widened to saucers as she whispered, "The Avatar."

"But he can't be," Kaida said, though she found herself slowly walking toward the newcomers in awe. "The Airbenders were wiped out a hundred years ago. The Avatar had to have been reborn before then. He couldn't be so young. He couldn't."

"Should we follow them? Those tattoos are pretty unique. We should just be sure…"

"It looks like they're going to stay the night," Kaida said slowly. "We could always… stay out here until after sunset…"

Ren paused. "We could just talk to them. I mean, if he really is the Avatar… which I'm not saying he is… maybe he could help us with our Bending?"

She looked suddenly excited, and Kaida bit her lip, fighting the temptation to run straight up to them. "The Avatar's the master of all four elements," she murmured. "If anyone could possibly help both of us, it would be him. I mean, it's not like there's an abundance of opportunities in a place as tiny as Mizuna… But surely the Avatar wouldn't even be here? I mean, he would have much bigger things to do like ending the war!"

"Even the Avatar needs to rest, Kaida!" Ren said, practically bouncing up and down with excitement. "I don't even know what I would say to him! I mean, he's the _Avatar_! What does _anyone_ say to the Avatar!?"

Then Kaida's skeptical side caught up with her optimism and her eyes narrowed. "Maybe he isn't," she said cautiously. "Maybe it's a Fire Nation trap. They aren't above tricking people into revealing their Bending—maybe they've just heard stories and want to corner the last two Benders in Mizuna."

Ren's excitement dimmed. "How could they possibly recreate the tattoos of the Avatar? And what about the flying bison? I'm not saying we run in there and start Bending for him, but at the very least talk to him."

"The tattoos could just be paint," Kaida reasoned. "The bison… well… that's a little harder… but still, we should be cautious." She looked at the sun already sinking toward the horizon and then back at the three kids gathering around a fire on the beach. "We could just act like we're going home… we'd walk straight by them…"

"Okay." Ren gathered her fishing pole and picked up the bucket holding their catch, then took a deep breath before beginning to walk toward them.

"Uh-oh," Sokka said, looking past his sister to the other side of the bay. "We've got company."

Aang looked up, then immediately grinned hugely. "Hey! I bet they live around here! They could probably help us find the elephant koi!"

Sokka looked outraged. "They could be Fire Nation spies come to capture you and take you to the Fire Lord!"

"Fire Nation spies who are carrying their day's catch and fishing poles, and who just so happened to already be here when we arrived?" Katara said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at her brother. "Come on, Sokka. They probably just live in that village we saw."

"If they live by the ocean they'll definitely know!" Aang said brightly, jumping up and waving at the girls. "Hey! Hey, you guys!"

Kaida blinked, trying not to look too surprised that the very kid they had noticed was now running toward them. She tried to rationalize that the Fire Nation would be less obvious about a trap, but it still made her a little nervous and she shifted her bare feet in the sand in case she needed to Bend. "Um, hello?" she responded uncertainly.

Ren smiled slightly. "Hi. Do you need help with something?"

"Do you guys live around here?" Aang asked, completely oblivious to Kaida's uneasiness.

"We're from Mizura, yes," the older girl answered slowly. "Why do you ask?"

Ren turned her head toward the boy and girl still sitting by the fire, her gaze lingering on the girl. Something about her seemed to call to something within Ren, though she shrugged it off and turned her attention back to the boy in front of them.

Katara sighed heavily as she looked at Sokka, who had a permanent suspicious glare on his face.

"He better be careful," Sokka muttered darkly. "Gonna get us all arrested because he wants to go koi surfing…"

"I was just wondering if you knew of a place with these huge koi?" Aang asked innocently. "I mean, I know it's somewhere _around_ here…"

Kaida cocked her head to the side curiously. "You're looking for elephant koi? You mean like they have around Kyoshi Island?"

"Kyoshi?" Aang repeated. "Like Avatar Kyoshi?"

Ren's eyes darted toward her cousin and then back to the boy. "Yes. Why are you looking for elephant koi?" she asked curiously.

Aang grinned. "For surfing, of course!"

Kaida shook her head as if she thought she hadn't heard him right. "_Surfing_? You must be joking."

"Nope," Sokka said, coming to stand beside Aang and crossing his arms. "Aang's just that easily distracted."

Katara joined Sokka next to Aang and smiled apologetically. "I apologize in advance for anything stupid my brother may say. My name is Katara. This is my brother Sokka, and obviously this is Aang."

"My name is Ren and this is my cousin Kaida," Ren said, smiling at the three of them. "Why in the world would you want to go koi surfing? Isn't that dangerous?"

"No, it's fun!" Aang insisted with a laugh.

Sokka, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You don't look very much like cousins," he said, looking suspiciously from Kaida's pale complexion to Ren's coppery skin. Where Kaida's hair was sleek and black, Ren's was wavy and brown. And Kaida's green eyes were not even close to Ren's stormy gray ones. Add in the four inches of height that Kaida had on her cousin and they made a pretty diverse pair.

"We're cousins, not twins," Kaida said with a roll of her eyes. "And Ren's mother was from the Northern Water tribe."

"Your mother was from the Northern Water tribe?" Katara asked excitedly. "Is she a Bender? I'm still looking for a master. I have a lot to learn," she admitted, smiling wryly.

Ren looked shocked and shot a glance at her cousin. "Um, yes. She was."

"If you're looking for a master here you came too late," Kaida said quietly. "Aunt Izumi was a great healer; that's why she was one of the first targets when the Fire Nation rounded up the Benders here. I was only three then, and Ren wasn't even old enough to remember."

Aang looked down sadly, as if he was taking personal responsibility for what had happened. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"It's a pretty common story here," Kaida said grimly. "The Waterbenders were massacred and the Earthbenders forced to mine coal for the Fire Nation ships. Then one day, the army decided we had run our usefulness." Her eyes turned as hard as jade. "They blew the entrance to the mine early one morning and buried everyone inside. We haven't seen a single Fire Nation ship since."

"You said _we_," Sokka said suspiciously. "Does that mean you worked in the mines too?"

Kaida glared at him. "That was ten years ago. I was six when they collapsed a thousand tons of dirt and rock on the heads of my father and a lot of other good men and women. No, I wasn't exactly old enough to be working in the mines."

Katara's expression turned to sadness. "I'm sorry. We didn't mean to bring back any bad memories."

Ren smiled sadly. "It's alright. How could you have known?" She paused as if considering the next question for a moment before asking, "So… how advanced are you in your Bending?"

"Not nearly as far as she thinks she is," Sokka muttered.

Katara shot a glare at her brother before smiling at Ren again. "Not nearly far enough. I have so much work to do, but I can't find anyone to teach me. That's why we're going to the Northern Water kingdom. We're hoping we can find someone there."

"We?" Kaida asked, raising her right eyebrow. "Are you boys Benders too?"

"Me, play with magic water? Please," Sokka said with a roll of his eyes.

"I don't know much Waterbending yet," Aang admitted as honestly as possible.

Kaida cocked her head to the side. "You don't look much like a Waterbender."

Ren looked confused. "_He's_ not a Waterbender, but _you_ are?"

Aang chuckled. "Uh, well… I'm kind of the Avatar."

"Aang!" Sokka objected. "You can't tell people that! What if they're Fire Nation spies!?"

Kaida didn't even bother being upset at his accusation, just stared at Aang in awe. "No, you—really? I mean, I saw the tattoos, but… you're an Airbender?"

Ren looked shocked but relieved at the same time. "You're—but how?"

Katara looked slightly nervous. "Well, we found him outside our village encased in a huge ball of ice."

Kaida looked at Aang like she had never seen anything quite like him before—which, naturally, she hadn't. "So you were frozen for a hundred years? And you didn't die? How is that possible?"

"I'm not really sure," Aang said with an awkward chuckle. Then a gleam lit up his eyes. "But… check this out!"

He pulled a couple of pebbles out of a pocket and held them between his palms, and then suddenly started whirling them around with a gust of concentrated wind. "Oh wow," Kaida whispered, unable to believe her eyes.

Then, as Kaida and Ren leaned in closer, something truly bizarre happened. Aang's tattoos began to glow a bright blue-white. Suddenly a spout of fire flew from the boy's fingertips too, a thin trail of water glided over from the ocean to join the elements spinning in his hands.

The second all four elements met on Aang's palm, Kaida felt an electric charge pulse through her veins. She was no longer in control of her Bending; the earth cracked beneath her feet and as she tried to steady herself to stop it, she realized that flames were dancing on her palms. And though she couldn't see it, where Aang's eyes were glowing blue-white, hers suddenly shone red-gold.

Ren gasped as she looked down at her feet to see a tornado-like wind swirling around them, being joined by tiny droplets of water drawn from the sea. "What's happening!?" she cried, sounding as terrified as she felt even without being able to see that her eyes were glowing the same color as Kaida's.

Sokka, of course, focused on only one thing: "FIREBENDER!"

Kaida stared at her hands, shaking with fear and uncertainty. "But I—I'm not—"

The fire leapt, out of control, onto the earth and exploded upward at the contact. For one brief moment, the plume of fire, earth, water, and air mingled; and then suddenly everything went still, the light dissipating from all three pairs of eyes.

Aang staggered backward, looking at Kaida and Ren in awe. "What was _that_!?"


	2. Chapter 2

Katara grabbed Aang's arm once it was safe to touch him and pulled him back protectively. "Who _are_ you!?" she asked accusingly, stare cold and suspicious.

Tears welled in Ren's eyes as she shook, completely awestruck and petrified. "I—I don't know. I'm not an Airbender. I'm a Waterbender."

"I—It must have been some—some freak thing," Kaida tried to reason. "It has to have been him doing the Bending, not us. I mean, I can't Bend fire. Look, just look!"

Taking a deep breath and drawing strength from the earth, Kaida slammed both fists down as if against an invisible force, then opened them and drew her hands together. The crack that had opened in the ground has been slowly filling with sand, but now it drew itself closed. The girl responsible looked up at them all desperately. "See? Earth. I'm an Earthbender. You can't Bend more than one element unless you're the Avatar!"

"And I'm only a Waterbender!" Ren said desperately. "I wouldn't even begin to know how to Bend air! Only the Avatar can bend Air, and I'm obviously not the Avatar because you are!"

"We saw you Bend fire!" Sokka accused.

"Wait, wait, let's all calm down," Aang said reasonably. "Maybe there's a good explanation for all this."

Kaida wanted to think that too, but she couldn't get the image of fire burning on her palms out of her mind. Even if Aang had conjured that fire, only a Bender would have been able to hold it. Suddenly feeling a little sick, she whispered, "I—I need Mom."

Ren grabbed her cousin's hand, seeking some sort of comfort. "I'll go with you. Come on."

Sokka's eyes narrowed and he leaped forward, pointing at them both and shouting: "Oh no! You're going back to warn Fire Nation troops!"

Aang frowned. "Sokka, what do you want to do, kidnap them?"

"We have no idea what just happened and we need to talk to her mother," Ren said quietly. "She might know what's going on."

"Your mother could be a Firebender!" Sokka accused.

Kaida clenched her fists and the earth below her trembled. "My mother is a tailor!" she snapped, but her eyes were too wide for anger and her voice laced with fear. "Come with us and see if you want. I just – I don't know – what, do you have a better idea!?"

Katara nodded. "We'll come with you. Sokka, stop it! They seem just as shocked as we are."

"So your mother isn't an Earthbender?" Aang asked as they started off for town, looking a little disappointed. "I'm going to need an Earthbending master after I learn Waterbending…"

Kaida swallowed hard and shook her head. "No, just my father. He and Ren's father were brothers but Uncle Daisuke wasn't a Bender. Most people assume Ren and I aren't either, so please don't tell anyone otherwise. It's… still not safe to have an accusation like that over your head around here."

Katara nodded her understanding. "You have our word. We won't tell anyone—as long as you don't tell anyone about us. There's a very angry Fire Nation guy looking for Aang right now."

"And you have our word," Ren said. "We won't tell anyone about any of you."

"Except Mom, but she would never betray a Bender," Kaida added as they entered the village square. She nodded toward a small wooden hut with plain, long shifts hanging in front of it, all in shades of green and blue. "This is her shop."

When Ren opened the door, warm red light streamed in. A petite woman with straight black hair like Kaida's sat in a rocking chair behind a counter, and she looked up from the seams of a dress she was taking in with surprise.

"Kaida, dear," she said with concern in her golden-brown eyes. "Ren, you girls are home early; it's barely sunset. You know it isn't safe for you to be in the city during the day. What if one of the travelers notices something?"

Ren sighed. "Something's happened. It's kind of hard to explain, but we have no idea what's going on. Aunt Kosuke, this is Aang, Katara, and Sokka," she added, gesturing to each of them. "They were there when it happened."

Now Kaida's mother looked really confused and if possible, even more alarmed. "Well, I'm pleased to meet you, I'm sure, but—" Then her eyes landed on Aang's forehead and she stood straight up, dropping the clothes in her lap on the floor. "Are… are those Airbender tattoos?"

Aang smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, kind of."

The tailor put a hand to her mouth and Kaida said slowly, "That's kind of what we wanted to talk to you about, Mom. Something really strange happened when we met Aang."

"He was showing us an Airbending trick," Ren explained slowly. "And well, I don't even know how to explain it. I'm a Waterbender, but suddenly I was an Airbender too. And Kaida… well, she's an Earthbender but suddenly she—well, she was a Firebender too."

"Sozin's throne!" Kosuke whispered, stepping forward and looking from Aang to Kaida to Ren and back to Kaida. "You… You can't be. The only way that could be is if you were the Avatar."

"That's what we keep saying," Kaida said helplessly. "So you don't know anything? I mean, this is impossible, right?"

Kosuke swallowed hard and wrapped her arms around herself as if suddenly cold. "Kaida, dear… All of you… please, sit down." She nodded toward the bench normally reserved for customers and as they arranged themselves on it, she opened the door of her shop just long enough to flip the sign to closed.

"I'm so sorry I never told you," the woman said quietly as she closed and locked the door. She came to stand before the children with the imploring eyes of someone that knew she should have spoken her secrets long ago. "Kaida, my little lark, understand I just didn't know how to tell you. When I was a young girl about your age… when I met your father… it was in the Fire Nation."

Kaida's mouth fell open, her tone halfway between unbelieving and accusatory as she asked, "You're a _Firebender_!?"

"No!" Kosuke said firmly, holding up a hand as if to forestall another outburst. "No, I was never a Bender. But I was born into a fairly well-to-do family in the Fire Nation. Your father…" The ghost of a smile crossed her face but was gone before Kaida could be sure it was really there. "He was a freedom fighter trying to stir up unrest in the outlying cities. He was good at it, too. He won me over."

Kaida's mother twisted the plain gold band she wore on her wrist and sighed softly. "When my parents found out, they sent me away to a boarding school. An academy just for young girls. But Keji came and found me. We ran away to the Earth Kingdom… and on the way, we met this woman named Wu.

"She called herself a fortuneteller, and I don't even know if she was from the Earth Kingdom or the Fire Nation, but she didn't turn us in. She said she was very interested in our fate. I just thought she was crazy, even more so when she told my fortune."

Kosuke paused to check the shutters were fully closed before continuing, "She told me that I was with child – a child of more than one element. Of course, I told her; Keji was an Earthbender and I of the Fire Nation. But she said she meant a child who could _Bend_ more than one element."

She looked at Aang and said honestly, "I didn't believe her. How could I? It was insane. Until I discovered she was right, that my Kaida would be born. Then you must understand, my first thought was that somehow the Avatar _had_ died with the Air Nomads, that the Waterbender he had been reincarnated into had since died as well. But there was no way to know for certain, not without the Fire Lord learning of the possibility and taking my baby girl away from me."

Tears shone in Kosuke's eyes as she looked back to her daughter. "And when Izumi… and then your father…"

Kaida looked like she had been asked to swallow a mango whole, but she finally forced herself to breathe and whispered, "It was bad enough I was an Earthbender."

"No," Kosuke said firmly, squeezing Kaida's hand. "That was never _bad_. It's a piece of your father. But you were a precocious little girl and it was so hard already keeping both you and Ren secret. I fooled myself into believing that was what Wu meant – I had one daughter but two Benders."

"But it wasn't," Aang said unnecessarily. "Kaida couldn't have held fire unless she was a Firebender. Somehow she can Bend two elements, and Ren too."

Ren closed her eyes and let out a low breath, then said what everyone was thinking: "And just normal Bending is enough to get us killed. They'll raze the whole village for this and we don't even know why."


End file.
